Former Stanford research coordinator convicted of altering patient records in breast cancer study

A jury has convicted a former Stanford employee of altering patient records in a breast cancer study, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Naheed Mangi, 66, was convicted Friday following a two-week trial before Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila in San Jose.

Mangi was employed as a clinical research coordinator in the Cancer Clinical Trials Office at Stanford’s National Cancer Institute from September 2012 until August 2013, according to court records.  Mangi worked with doctors and patients in the clinical research program, reporting significant patient events, monitoring research, assisting with scheduling patient appointments, and entering data into clinical dataset.

Mangi was assigned to a Genentech-sponsored study being conducted at Stanford for breast cancer patients that was referred to as the “Velvet Breast Cancer MO27782 Study.” The study sought to determine the safety and efficacy of a new, experimental pharmaceutical treatment for patients with metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer. 

Prosecutors said Mangi was fired on Aug. 19, 2013, and her supervisor attempted to revoke her Stanford-related computer access and privileges. But she wasn’t locked out of the system until the next day.

The jury found that later in the evening on the day she was fired, Mangi logged into the clinical database and altered data replacing patient medical data with erroneous information and insults about her former supervisor, according to prosecutors.

Stanford later re-entered all of the information about its participants and reported the incident to local and federal authorities.

“Her senseless actions undermined a study into the safety and efficacy of a new treatment for breast cancer patients,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Robbins. “The jury’s verdict holds the defendant accountable for her crimes.”

Mangi, who was convicted of two counts of intentional damage to a protected computer one count of accessing a protected computer without authorization, faces sentencing on July 21. She could get as much as 10 years in prison for each intentional damage count and one year for the lack of authorization conviction.